A Message from Randy Boyd

Randy Boyd: I’m honored and humbled to have
the opportunity to serve my alma mater and my state, the people of Tennessee. Education is something I’ve been passionate
about all my life, and I’ve spent a lot of my last five years professionally supporting
educational initiatives and there’s nothing in our state that creates more economic opportunity,
more educational opportunity than the University of Tennessee system. There’s several priorities. Getting a new chancellor at the University
of Tennessee Knoxville and a successor for me is job number one. Number two we gotta make sure that we define
the relationship between our campuses and our institutes and the system. We wanna make sure that clarity is there and
we’ve got it optimized. Number three, we’ve gotta make sure that people
understand how great the University of Tennessee system is and the impact that it has across
our state. Fourth, University of Tennessee is the talent
development engine for the state of Tennessee. We wanna enhance that. Randy Boyd: We wanna make sure that we’re
bringing the best and the brightest into our system from all across the state, all across
the country so that they can be educated here and then stay here and help contribute to
the state of Tennessee. Finally, we have tremendous research capabilities
all across our system. No one is a better partner for this research
than the Oak Ridge National Laboratories. We wanna continue to grow and enhance that
relationship. We’ve gotta make sure that our university
not only prepares our students for that world that they’re gonna be a part of, but also
that it represents that world. Randy Boyd: So, we’ve gotta make sure that
our university’s environment is one of welcoming, inclusion, and diversity. I wanna thank and congratulate Dr. DiPietro. He has done an amazing job over the last eight
years. We’ve set records in fundraising and research
and number of students graduating. We’re at an all time high in graduation rates
and enrollment. A lot of it’s due to his great leadership,
and I’m honored to be able to try to build on the foundation that he’s already built. Thank you for this opportunity to be able
to serve the state of Tennessee and the University of Tennessee. I’m looking forward to getting out and visiting
with everybody all across the system. I’m looking forward to seeing you at your
campus or institute soon.